Note 5 - Investment Securities Available For Sale

9 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Notes to Financial Statements

Investments in Debt and Marketable Equity Securities (and Certain Trading Assets) Disclosure [Text Block]

5. Investment Securities Available For Sale

The marketable securities held by the Company as of December 31, 2015 and March 31, 2015 are classified as available for sale securities. Available-for-sale securities at December 31, 2015 consisted of investments in publicly traded companies with a fair market value of $8,666,000, an aggregate cost basis of $8,706,000, gross unrealized gains aggregating $477,000 and gross unrealized losses aggregating $517,000. Marketable securities at March 31, 2015 consisted of investments with a fair value of $5,279,000, an aggregate cost basis of $5,490,000, gross unrealized gains aggregating $0 and gross unrealized losses aggregating $211,000. Securities in a loss position at December 31, 2015 had a fair market value of $6,255,000 and have been in a continuous loss position in the amount of $517,000 for less than twelve months. Securities in a loss position at March 31, 2015 had a fair value of $4,168,000 and had been in a continuous loss position in the amount of $176,000 for less than twelve months and securities in a loss position in the amount of $35,000 for greater than twelve months had a fair value of $1,111,000. The Company realized gains of $859 and $78 from the sale of securities during the three-month period ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 respectively. For the nine-month period ended December 31, 2015, the Company realized a loss of $7,696 and no loss for the prior comparable period for the sale of marketable securities. A gain of $859 and $8,487 was also realized for the nine-month periods ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 respectively. The marketable securities held by the Company as of December 31, 2015 and March 31, 2015 are classified as available for sale securities. The Company does not intend to liquidate marketable securities holdings in Insignia Systems, Inc. (“Insignia”) within twelve months; as a result, the fair value of marketable securities in Insignia were reclassified from current to non-current assets during the quarter ended June 30, 2015 and are reported as investments in available-for-sale securities at December 31, 2015. Investments in Insignia at December 31, 2015 had an aggregate cost basis of $5,106,000 and sustained gross unrealized losses aggregating $362,000. All securities are priced using publicly quoted market prices and are considered Level 1 fair value measurements.